We did not become the Anglican Church (the Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican Communion) because Henry VIII wanted a divorce! There was a convergance of many factors that led Henry to cut jurisdictional relations with the papacy in the 1530's.
But you could say that our Church was born in the midst of conflict. And we continue to be in the midst of some kind of conflict much of the time, and in my opinion we do it pretty well. What I mean is that the Episcopal (Anglican) church is good at being the bridge between opposing sides - being the via media, the middle way - being the one who holds fast to both sides of the dilemma, refusing to let go and always asserting that we can worship together even if we don't agree on everything.
Powerful forces were in play in the 16th century. The protestant reformation was in full swing, Martin Luther having posted his "95 Theses" on the door of the castle church at Whittenberg in 1517. In England - briefly - Edward VI followed Henry VIII. Thomas Cranmer introduced reformed worship during Edward's reign. (Bloody) Mary Tudor followed Edward and tried to take the church back to Catholicism. And in the process felt the need to burn 300 protestants to death.
Enter, Elizabeth 1 in 1558! For Elizabeth, chaos, change, danger, conflicting expectations, and sharply diverse religious beliefs were the norm. Essentially she looked at the bloodshed and craziness around her and said, "Enough!". We will worship in common, from a book of common prayer whether we can agree on anything else or not. This is the Elizabethan Settlement and it was the beginning of the development of the unique Anglican identity.
From Fredrica Thompsett's book - The Elizabethan Settlement comprised "the guidelines that were established early in Elizabeth's reign for the worship, governance, and theological character of an English church that would balance tradition and the need for reform, and Catholic sacramental structure with Protestant theological understanding".
Or another joke has the Episcopal Church as "a little bit catholic, a little bit protestant - a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll".
Do you see any parallels today to the time of Elizabeth? What are the dangers? Who are the opposing sides in our presentday conflicts?
1 comment:
You put very well the short history. When I only had history to go by I argued that the Episcopal church (Anglican) was not protestant, at least not in the conventional, reformational sense. Your short history says it so well.
As for today--we continue to move impulsively and pragmatically and then spend the next period of time, how long will it take? coming up with the practical working out of our decisions.
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